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Jobless rates drop in 40 states

North Dakota had the lowest jobless rate, 3.3 percent, boosted by an increase in oil and gas drilling.

The national unemployment rate is 7.5 percent, after employers added 165,000 jobs last month. The jobless rate has been steadily falling this year although partly because frustrated workers stopped looking for jobs.

The biggest drops happened in California, New York and South Carolina in April.

The improving housing sector is boosting job creation around the country.

All told, 30 states added jobs in April, while 18 reported fewer jobs, the report said.

The largest over-the-year job increase occurred were in Texas (326,100), California (273,100), Florida (119,100) and New York (111,600).

Texas added 33,1000 jobs last month while theunemployment rate stayed at 6.4 percent in April, a drop from 7 percent over the past year.

New York was the second-largest job gainer in April, adding 25,300 jobs.